Sussex CCC Blog

Welcome to our new weekly Sussex County Cricket Club blog! Every week we’ll be taking you back to memorable moments and unearthed gems in Sussex cricket history.

We’ll be introducing you to key players that have been part of Sussex’s memorable past, showing you how The BrightonandHoveJobs.com County Ground used to look and taking you back to some of the incredible cricketers and events that have shaped our rich history over the past century.

This week we’d like you to meet Kumar Shri Ranjitsinhji, or Ranji as he was more commonly known to everyone at Sussex and the cricket world in general. Ranji was cricket’s first global superstar; infamous for his silk shirts, he would be mobbed as he walked down Brighton’s streets!

Born in India in 1872, Ranji came to England in 1888 to study at Trinity College, Cambridge, where he became friendly with Sussex’s amateur players. In 1895 he made his Sussex debut and within a year he was playing for England.

His career brimmed with accolades; he has been credited for inventing the leg glance and on his debut against Australia in 1896 he became the first batsman to score a hundred before lunch in a Test match. In a game for Sussex against Yorkshire he scored two hundreds on the same day – the only recorded instance of this in a first-class match.

He retired from cricket when he lost the sight in one eye during a shooting accident in 1915 and went on to represent India at the League of Nations. A true Sussex legend!

Any Sussex cricket history buffs out there? We’re always keen to hear your Sussex cricket stories and include them in this blog! Contact us here info@sussexcricket.co.uk